Local Vietnam veterans reflect on their homecoming

The last U.S. combat troops left Vietnam 40 years ago Friday, and the date holds great meaning for many who fought the war, protested it or otherwise lived it.

While the fall of Saigon two years later is remembered as the final day of the Vietnam War, many had already seen their involvement in the war finished -- and their lives altered -- by March 29, 1973.

Former state Sen. Roy J. McDonald, a Troy native, who served in Vietnam from 1970-71, said there was little fanfare when he came home from Southeast Asia.

"I flew into California and took a plane to Albany, where my father picked me up at the airport," he said. "You were just another soldier in a uniform. That was it. There was no homecoming at all. I'm not bitter about it. I considered myself fortunate to survive. It was gratifying to see my family."

But the reunion was a short one because a week or so later he was sent to Fort Carson, Colo., where he finished out his duties with the Army's 4th Infantry Division.

He got there in a Mustang.

While still in Vietnam, he carried around a crumpled up picture of a Mustang, his favorite car. When he got home, he went right to a dealership and bought one.

"They treated use terrible when we came home," said Dan Mahoney of Troy, who served as an infantryman with the 101st Airborne in Vietnam. When Mahoney flew into a California airport with other veterans, they had to be escorted by police who kept the anti-war protesters away from the soldiers.

"We were walking down a line, protected by the cops, but they were still spitting on us, calling us baby-killers," Mahoney said. "We were treated like we had done something wrong. The treatment at home, I think, did more damage than the war did."

While not a day has gone by that he does not think about Vietnam, the memory of the fervor that was inspired in some people during that time has largely faded, he said. No one bothers him about the war anymore and he is more likely to receive a "thank you" for his service.

"I think a lot of people, over the years, realized that we got treated really bad," Mahoney said. "I think people realized after a period of time that it really wasn't our fault."

The change in public perception of Vietnam veterans has been accompanied by changes in how veterans are treated when they come home. The once unprepared health system veterans like Mahoney found upon their return has been largely remedied.

When local vets returned, the system did not have the capacity to accommodate the number of veterans seeking care or provide the type of services -- mental health, complications relating to Agent Orange exposure -- that returning soldiers required. In addition, many veterans found the system inaccessible.

The Stratton VA Hospital in Albany is one of only five veterans hospitals in the state. It serves a wide area, from the Canadian border south to Kingston and between Massachusetts and Utica. Returning Vietnam soldiers who resided at the farthest reaches of the hospital's coverage area had to travel as much as 4 ½ hours to access the services.

"When you had vets that already had an annoyance with government and add to that an inaccessible healthcare system, you had a recipe for disaster," said Peter Potter, public affairs officer for the Stratton VA.

In the years since the war, the VA has been able to bring its services provided by the hospital's more than 1,200 employees closer to the vets -- even into their homes. Stratton VA has 11 clinics, with locations in Schenectady, the North Country and one in Troy at 295 River St. (That clinic can be contacted at 274-7707.) Those clinics now account for between 30 and 40 percent of the VA services.

More recently, the VA has brought their services beyond the clinics. In the past five years, the hospital began bringing their care directly into far-flung sites through secure video connections. Referred to as "telehealth," the program allows veterans to conduct everything from interview-style checkups with doctors to sending in blood-sugar levels for patients with diabetes.

Because of declining numbers of World War II and Korean War veterans, Vietnam vets comprise the majority of the VA's patients.

McDonald said he thinks America can learn from its mistakes by treating newly returned veterans better than those who served in Vietnam. He said soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan should be given assistance with things such as employment, healthcare, education and family-related issues.

"We have an obligation to these folks because they earned it," he said. "Fifty-thousand Americans died over there (Vietnam) fighting for their country. They loved their country. It's no different than the men and women in Afghanistan today."